


The Game of Life

by Dojh167



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Board game, Community: HPFT, Family Reunion, Fluff, Gen, Next Generation, muggle game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 17:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7232482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dojh167/pseuds/Dojh167
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><div>
  <p>The kids discover a strange artifact in the shed during a Weasley family reunion.</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	The Game of Life

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on HPFF for the 2015 House Cup collab "Game On."

Lucy walked down the stairwell of the Burrow, looking around suspiciously. The house was never this quiet, and certainly not during a Weasley family reunion.

She wandered into the kitchen, where the adults dully worked. Her father and Aunt Fleur were peeling vegetables, Aunt Angelina was drying dishes, and Uncle George, Uncle Ron, and Grandad were sitting around the table, engrossed in conversation.

“Hello, Lucy,” Angelina said warmly as she entered, her wand hand busy directing dishes into the cupboard. “How’s the attic?”

“I don’t know if you’d call in clean, but the cobwebs are gone.”

“Killed them with fire?”

“Of course!” Lucy giggled. She hesitated before casually asking, “Have you seen Roxanne?”

“Not for a while, though I’m not sure what cleaning duty Molly put everyone on.”

“Right,” Lucy said. She didn’t risk asking any other questions. If her cousins were playing truant, it wasn’t her place to tell. Smiling politely to the others, Lucy quietly slipped outside, wondering if she’d find anyone de-gnoming in the garden.

But the garden was just as empty as the house. Lucy listened intently for familiar sounds of Quidditch coming from the orchard, but there was nothing.

Just as she was about to return to the house disappointed, she heard a rustle of excited whispers coming from the shed. Looking around uncertainly, Lucy cautiously approached the shed. She could make out the faint outlines of several people through the dirty windows, but could not tell what they were doing. She slowly opened the windows.

“Hey Luce,” Albus said, looking up at her for only a moment.

Lucy’s eyes widened as she took in the room. Every one of her cousins was crammed into the shed, gathered around a strange looking board that was set up on a crate.

“What is that?” she asked, indicating the board that they all seemed to be focused on.

“Come on, Lucy.” Roxanne extended her arm, inviting Lucy in. Lucy obeyed automatically, taking a closer look at the board on the crate.

“We found a muggle game,” Rose bragged.

Lily giggled. “Well, really, Grandad’s version of a muggle game.”

With that explanation, the object made much more sense. Lucy realized that what was so disquieting about the game was its strange combination of familiar and unfamiliar elements. The game itself was remarkably simple and flat, with the words and pictures simply painted onto the surface, many of them not even moving. The occasional three dimensional pieces were so small and plain that they seemed almost as flat as the board. Beyond that, however, were grandad’s unmistakable touches of magic. The tiny plastic cars, instead of being pushed around by hand, were floating about of their own accord. The windows in the tiny houses glowed with flickering lights And the tiny plastic stubs that Lucy realized must represent people kept trying to squirm out of the cars.

“It’s called the Game of Life.” James said dramatically.

“Stupid name.” Louis muttered.

“What is it with grandad and flying cars?” was the only thing Lucy could think to say as she sat down beside Roxanne.

"Look, it even has muggle money!" Lily said, showing off the stack of bills she had collected.

"How strange... they just give you that for free?"

"When we're done playing I'm going to take some down to the village." Hugo mused.

"Don't be stupid, it's not real," James snapped at his young cousin.

"Right... I knew that." Hugo stumbled, "I just want to know if muggles can tell the difference."

"What's insurance?" Lily asked, reading something over Rose's shoulder.

"Oh, I learned about that in Muggle Studies," Dominique said, wrinkling her forehead in concentration, "It's money that muggles give to other muggles so that if they get in trouble they can get money."

Dominique's answer was greeted with silent stares. "That's mental," Albus finally said.

"Here Lucy, you can take my turn," Roxanne offered.

Excited, Lucy scooted closer to the board. "What do I do?"

"Spin that big wheel in the middle."

Lucy complied, feeling a little awkward as she did so. "Why isn't the wheel enchanted?" she wondered aloud.

"I think it's cause it makes such a cool clicking noise when it spins," Lily volunteered.

"I bet grandad thinks that's magic enough," Albus said with a grin.

The wheel ticked slowly to a stop, resting on a large purple number six. Before Lucy could ask what to do next, Roxanne's blue car was rushing along the path on the board, swerving back and forth so much that she feared the wiggling peg people would fall right out. As the car flew over a bright green square marked "Pay Day" a stack of bills flew into Roxanne's pile.

"Wow, awesome!" Lucy cried. "I get money just for driving? Am I like I muggle delivery person?"

"No, you're a hair stylist."

"Oh."

"Now you read the space you ended on," Roxanne instructed.

Hugo leaned forward and read enthusiastic, "It says you get a baby girl!"

Lucy blushed crimson, "I do not!"

"Lucy's a mummy, Lucy's a mummy," Rose taunted as a tiny pink peg hopped along the board and squirmed into the back of the blue car.

"And that's all for this turn," Roxanne explained. "James goes next. Yes, you have to keep the baby."

Frowning, Lucy looked ahead on the board. "So it ends when you die?" she asked with a cringe.

"No, it ends when you retire with all your money." Albus grinned enthusiastically.

"I told you it was a stupid name," Louis grumbled.


End file.
